Victoria Karpinski

I’m not sure whether it’s wonderful or soul destroying that on Valentine’s Day 2013, Pornhub allowed its users to watch Premium videos for free. Whilst I’d love to say it restored my faith in humanity with this blessing for frisky singletons, as soon as my excitable male flatmates informed me of this treat, every inch of my porn-ignorant brain still screamed ‘SCAM’ and I implored them not to do it.

She’s been compared to six-time Grammy award-winner Adele, and was once asked to join soul heroine Amy Winehouse’s band, but her latest album ‘Fall to Grace’, released in May 2012, without a doubt distinguishes her musical talent from that of other artists. From heartbreak ballads to feisty uplifting choruses, Paloma defines the pains of young love in her own unique set of relationship-blasting tracks.

Nowadays, it would be shocking to find someone who hasn’t heard of this feel-good Indie rock band. Since receiving two Grammy award nominations in 2010, one for Best New Artist and the other for Best Rock Song (‘Little Lion Man’, of course), this talented bunch have gone from strength to strength; and now their second album, ‘Babel’, released in September 2012, is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with at this year’s Brit awards.

It’s Saturday night. The drinks are flowing, the outfit is ready, and you are on it. Except by that I mean the hot chocolate is flowing, your onesie is ready, and you’re sat on your computer watching re-runs of Fresh Meat, wondering what went wrong.

Getting a job should be easy. You apply, you go to an interview, you smile, say clever words and act pretty, and you get the job offer. You work your shifts, and you sit smirking, awaiting your payslip that will bring you up, out and beyond the deep dark underworld of the overdraft. But alas, it is not to be. Because time and time again, companies are metaphorically crapping all over innocent, naive student’s aspirations of earning a bit of money. But why?

You’re single and you’re horny, and tonight’s the night. You’ve got your pre-drinks, got your cash out, an outfit lined up that you believe to be effortlessly cool, and a wingman (or woman) at the ready. So why is it that, when going out on the prowl, the chances of actually getting some immediately fall to a devastatingly low possibility?

Let’s be honest. When we strip ourselves of our supposed objectivity, our non-judgemental acceptance, the right to freedom of speech and all that garbage; the fact is that if you find out someone’s doing the dirty in an outrageously unconventional way, it’s definitely considered freaky. Although many sexual taboos have been forced into submission (excuse the pun), there are still some outstanding preferences of the minority which upset and disturb those of us who still think a gentle spank is extreme.

Sexism, particularly surrounding the workplace, “used” to be a massive problem. What we, in our arrogantly modern non-sexist non-racist non-homophobic non-biased-in-general minds, fail to realise is, it actually still is a cause for concern; 85% of women workers in the UK still believe that there is a bias towards men at work. It's just that now it’s yet another one of those issues that’s been sneakily swept under the carpet. But why does it even exist at all?

No one wants to trudge through their time at University with a constant feeling of being restrained, snapped back like an elastic band to someone that may frustratingly turn out not even to be ‘The One’. Dedicating a year or more of your precious University life to someone miles away, who could be cheating on you, or you could end up cheating on, is a huge risk. Yet many of us still take it. The question is, why bother?

When a young couple gets pregnant, everyone’s sympathy is understandably, but also unfairly, focussed on the girl. The boy, although seen as equally irresponsible, does not often get the attention he deserves, purely because, although it’s half his, the child is not growing inside him. People always scorn the men who will do a runner faced with this ordeal, but what about the ones who would stay? What about the men who, given the chance, would take the pill instead?